Lakeville, which has added hundreds of senior housing units in recent years, has changed its zoning code to allow more to be built — now in commercial areas where they previously weren't allowed.
The City Council recently approved the change, which applies only to assisted-living and memory-care facilities that provide a range of health care and other services for seniors. The new rules don't apply to independent-living senior complexes, which still must be in residential zones.
The zoning change opens up a vast amount of territory in Lakeville previously off-limits to assisted-living and memory-care centers. The four commercial zones where they now will be permitted make up more than 900 acres, including the city's central business district and a large area off Interstate 35 from 205th to 215th Streets.
Planning Director Daryl Morey pointed out that not all of the new area is vacant. Much of it is populated with stores, restaurants and a few offices. But he added that the new rule wouldn't preclude occupied land from being redeveloped into a senior housing project.
"It certainly broadens the types of land choices that these [senior housing] developers have," Morey said.
"Obviously there's a need here in the city, and I'm very excited to see this as an opportunity in commercial districts," Council Member Bart Davis said at the meeting where the council unanimously approved the change.
Lakeville isn't the only community in the midst of a senior housing boom. A recent report by National Investment Center (NIC), a Washington, D.C.-based senior housing research firm, showed that the Twin Cities had added assisted-living units at a faster pace than the average for the nation's 31 largest metro areas.
City planners began looking into the zoning revisions a few months ago after being contacted by a commercial landowner who was working with a senior housing firm interested in his property at County Road 46 and Kenyon Avenue.
